The Wingham Advance-Times, 1969-02-27, Page 2I 71r
Page 2 .0- Wingham Advance -Times. Thursday, Feb, 21, 1909
a
. • •
People or Pigs?
The Advance -Times received a letter
the other day from a writer who was con-
cerned about the condition of our arena.
Since its contents are so timely we are
reproducing it in this week's editorial
column and we hope its message will sink
in. The letter .follows:
Each year the arena is used by count-
less hockey players and fans. Unlike many
other buildings, the value of the arena is
decreasing sharply each year. The opposite
is the case, for instance with homes, which
sold for $10,000 five years ago and today
are selling for twice that figure.
However, the difference lies in the fact
that the arena is not kept up as are homes.
Let us compare it with the high school
where at least .1200 students tramp in each
day out of the wintry weather, bringing in
snow and slush over _the terrazo floors.
Shortly after classes begin the crew of
maintenance men quickly clean *up. the
mess. The wet boots. have been placed in
lockers and from that time onward for the
•remainder of the class .periods the students
are able to walk on dry, clean floors.
How many people use the 'arena each
day? Unless there is a hockey game at
night we would guess at less than 100.
For an evening of good hockey there
might be as many as 300. BUT — the
mess, one hour after these 300 people
enter the building is atrocious. Granted,
there might not be such ai mess if there
were no candy bars, hot chocolate, coffee,
cigarettes or hot dogs, but these things
are all part of a hockey game.
One wonders at times ,how some
people's homes are kept when we see how
they act in a public building. The wrap-
pers from the refreshments they buy are
tossed on the floors, cigarettes are ground
into the floors if they haven't already been
butted on the window sills behind the
glass upstairs.
This building was paid for by the peo-
ple of this community and is maintained
out of our taxes. Its value is decreasing
rather than increasing as long as we per-
mit people to deface it.
An effort was made last fall to im-
•
prove the value and the appearance by
having the walls of the downstair lobby
painted. Time was spent by local citizens
to do this work. Surely we can respect
their interest and effort and thus help to
save the arena from .becoming ,the same
type of ruin the old front was.
At present the seats and the boards are
in bad state of repair. As we walk over
them we can see patches of tin nailed
down over the holes. Apparently the
seats, especially on the east side, have been
re -braced and the old braces have been
repaired. How long will it be before those
seats collapse with the danger of serious
injury to spectators and fans? If we are
going to keep this facility for years to
come -we must do some serious thinking
about how we, are going to maintain it.
Following the Listowel disaster arenas
across the province were inspected, with
particular attention to rafters and roof
supports. We were fortunate that there
Was sound planning when the building
was first erected. The footings are all two
feet thick; the supports of the walls and
roof are steel and are tied together with
steel rods. The engineers informed the
arena board that the roof could withstand'
, a seven -foot load of snow. During the
storm in January the snow on the east side
was approaching that depth so the build-
ing was closed for the week -end and the
snow was removed.
In order to keep our arena in good
shape we must respect it ds valuable pro-
perty and help to keep it clean. The
garbage containers must be used wherever
possible. It is yours to use. Use, it as if
it belonged to you and you can be proud of
this communitybuilding where many of
us have spent so much time as youngsters
and now watch our own youngsters make,
the most of it.
Editor's footnote: The Department of
Highways achieved some very noticeable
results, in a similar situation by posting
prominent, signs to state that a fine of
$50.00 would be the penattyjor littering
the public roadways. How about a similar
plan for the arena?
Grand National Joke
• You, may recall reading, within the
past few weeksktbout the questions which'
were being asked in Ottawa concerning
the cost of the new national art gelidly?
We can't quote the, figures now,. but the
final price for the structure fanto many
times the original estimate. However, it is
a stately and imposing structure.
While we were attending a meeting in
the capital last week -end we learned that
the gallery ,was exhibiting a special group
of Tom ThOrrison's paintings some of
them never before shownto the public
so off we went to see them. The Thomson
paintings along with some by Arth,ur Lis -
mer and A. Y. Jackson, were sheer pleas-
ure to behold -- particularly 'because so
many of the subjects are landscapes and
water scenes in the Qeorgian Bay Islands,
our favorite holiday haunt.
Returning to the main ,lobby we wand-
ered around to see what else was on dis-
. play and our discoveries were amazing.
Rather naturally we believed the costly
national art gallery .was dedicated to the
exhibition of true and meaningful art
forms. Personally, we lay no claim to "so-
phisticated" understanding of all the far- .
out modern art, but we have never con-
demned what we felt incompetent to fair-
ly judge. . However, the lobby of that fine
building contains two or three fantastic
efforts that could scarcely be classed as
anything but an unseemly practical joke.
Along one wall of a magnificent stone •
and. glass salon are two pieces .of sculp-
ture.One depicts a hollow -chested teen-
ager slumped in a chair, and drinking a
bottle of pop. To complete the scene the
sculpture is flanked by a battered and
filthy Coke cooler and a pile of beaten up
pop cases. The second work of art is the
b
siirtulated front of a dirty service itation,
complete witkr a rack of Worwout tilts and
scime empty 'oil cans. The 'funk' all" but
obscures the sculpture of the , supposed
%owner inside. .
But this was only the beginning. Oc-
cupying about 150 square feet of polished
granite floor space was a steel box, made
by welding together six pieces of sheet
steel. • There it standsin all its rusty glory .
and beside it is the neatly -lettered title
Plate, "Black Box." But the pay-off was
yet to come. •
Against the far wall was an untidy
heap of cuttings from a floor -carpet; ob-
viously, left behind by workmen who had
been trimming somerugs for the floors
above. There was a great heap of the
stuff, perhaps ten feet wide and extend-
ing four or five feet out into the room.
Our first reaction was disappointment
that a room so beautifully . appointed
should be cluttered, even temporarily by
the heap of scrap.
Yes, you guessed it. Closer inspection
disclosed the , neat little -sign which de-
• clared that the garbage was a work of art.
Oh, we can hear it now. We don't
have •any appreciation for modern forms
of expression; we are too utterly uncul-'
tured to understand that an artistic soul
is. pouring out his genius before an un-
comprehending public.
Nut! If you are going to fall for this
sort of million-dollar:7minute practical
joke, we are not. We don't know much
about art, but we know a heap of old
carpet scraps when we see one. And if
that rusty rectangle of badly -welded steel
Is a work of art then Dave Murray has
been working in the wrong shop for a long
time. He should move to Ottawa.
Keep Your Fingers Crossed
As we write this column on Sunday
little flakes of snow are drifting down—
and it's the first time we Can recall hoping
for a heavy snowfall in late February.
Hopefully by the time the week -end
rolls around wetwill be having a snappy
spell of frosty weather and some clean
4
snow to put us all in the mood for the
winter carnival.
Let's all pitch into this celebration and
get it off to a good start, We are late
getting into the swing of the winter car-
nival plan in Wingham, but we would cer-
tainly like to see this event developed into
a really interesting annual event.
THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES
Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited
W. Barry Wenger, Pre:silent - Robert O. Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer
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BIRDS OF A FEATHER and bears were to-
gether in the best animal costume cate-
gory of the skating carnival in Belmore.
MON .......... 1111.111.1111.11
1111111.0
Every animal wes represented from the
prize-winning rooster to the cutest little
skunk ever seen on skates.—A-T Photo.
usesiames,eletset
Large crowd enjoys Carnival
BELMORE--Belmore"Arena
was crowded as people came
from near and far to enjoy the
annual ice carnival on Friday
evening. Competitions mere
held foi best costumes in ten
classes, with winners also nam-
' ed in races and in special clas-
ses. • .
Highlight of the evening
was the crowning of the 1969
Carnival Queen, Darlene Bal-
lagh, daughter of Mr.. andriMrs.
Harvey Ballagh of the village.
She was erowned by last year's
queen, Phyllis McKague.
Preceding competition,
Rev. R. Horsburgh
starts.own church
•Rev. Russell.Hors,burgh cele-
brated the first anniversary of
his acquittal in a retrial ordered
by the Supreme Court of Cana-
da -by registering with the city
of Toronto a new organization
called "The Church In The
Streets".
The new organization already
• has a nine -member board of
directors and will apply for a
provincial charter. Rev. Ronald
Price, known as The Singing
Parson and co-worker with Mr.
Horiburgh, will be "Street Pad-
- re" with a special ministry to
youdv, while Mr. Horsburgh
will cOncentrate on a ministry
to the pubs and taverns. His of-
ficial title will be "Padre to the
Pubs". The two clergymen will
work out of. a clinic located at
80 Yorkville Avenue in down -
ton Toronto. •
The objective of the board
of directors is to locate and
open a drop-in counselling
centre with a coffee-house for-
mat which will also feature
Sunday night "sing -ins", forums,
discussions/etc. It will be call-
ed "Chapel In the Street".
Toronto Youth Anonymous,
of which Mr. Horsbufgh and Mr.,
Price ate directors, will be a
major project of the Church In
The Streets. It is a chapter or-
ganization "for the rehabilitation
of youthful offenders and pre-
vention of delinquency and is
patterned after Alcoholics
Anonymous. Over 150 young
people are already enrolled in
the self-help, help -others ther-
apy sessions. .
Mr. Horsburgh says that he
hopes the "Church In The
Streets" idea will spread to
other cities and "be worthy of
recognition as the most rele-
vant .churdh witness found any-
where today". "Christianity
began as a ministry of personal
encounter with people on the
streets, in parks and in arket
places. A minister to be ef-
fective can no longer d w ell
with his congregation in a world
apart; he must leave his ivory
tower and go out where the peo0
ple are, sharing vicariously in
their struggles with every kind
of guilt until there is no form
display of figure skating was
presented by local young peo-
ple.
Costumes in all classes were
judged by Mr. and Mrs. Harold
Robinson of Gorrie. Mts. Clare
'Ball and'Miss Peggy Ann Bat-
tles of Clinton. Winners were:
Pre -School nursery rhyme.
costume, Caroline Mulvey,
Nancy Kieffer, Joan Dickson,
Keith Rutherford.
Girl's fancy costume 6-12,
Cathy Simmeraker, Elizabeth
Lane, Karen,Fitch.
`geiedowii,
Paul McMichael, Gwen Press.
Boy's modern costume, 6-12,
Jeffrey Dickson, Jeffrey Mulvey,
Arthur Fitch.
Hippy costume, Gail Ren-
wick, Ruth Whitehead, S us an
McMichael.
Hard time costume, Gilbert
Johann, Myra Dane, John Lee-
son.
Best bird or animal, Debbie
McDonald, Vicki MacDonald,
Judy Dickson.
of evil -doing that will shock
him, "Mr. Horsburgh insists.
"The Church is losing ground
today because she is so slow, and
hesitant to come out of her con-
finement within four walls of
a building". ,
Mr. •Horsburgh and Mr. Price
have visited over 70 Ontario and
Quebec centres in the last year
propagating the Youth Anony-
mous method as the most ef-
fective way of combatting de-
linquency and rehabilitating of-
fenders..
Lady's fancy costume. Bever-
ly Ballagh, Darlene Ballagh.,
Karen Dickson. -
Best dressed man, Warren
inirbrigg. Hugh Campb.ell. Andy
Lane.
• Couple in old-time costume,
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Campbell,
Warren Zurbrigg and Beverly
Ballagh.
Ronda Lynn MacPherson, at
21 yews, was the youngest
skater., and the largest family,
on skatit was the Michael Kief:-
-fei-family, wlthM�iiand Dal
1 VdiSix ' Warren-
inrbrigg -was the oldest person
on 'skates. .
Winners in the races were:
„Girls 6 and. under, Nancy
Kieffer, Nancy Dickson, Joan
Dickson; 7 and 8, Cavil Kief-
fer, Rosemary Kieffer, Mary
Dickson; 9 and 10, Dianne
Kieffer, Lynn Foxton, Twyla
Dickson; 11 and 12, Janet Mac-
Donald, Jane MacPherson, Pat- -
sy Scott; 13 -and 14; Mary Kay
McKenzie,Karen Dickson,
Nancy MacDonald. Ladies open,
Julie Roane, Karen Dickson, •
Jane MacPherson. , •
'
Boys 6 and under, Paul Mc-
Michael, Gary Douglas, Andy
Renwick; 7 and 8, .RandyClarke,
Danny Renwick, Brian Hayes;
9 and 10, Garth Dickert, Doug-
las Gibson, David Kieffer; 11
and 12, AllanWillits, Bruce
Dickert, Doug Inglis; 13 and 14.
Richard Inglis, Paul Kieffer,
Doug Jeffray; 15 and 16, Allan
Dickson, Kevin Kieffer, Rick
McPherson. Men's open, Allan
Dickson, Kevin Kieffer, Rick
about those stud tits ,
My Mind, la Ifo scrambled
right no that XII be luelw if I
can write three umierstandable
sentences.
I've been trying to explain to
my daughter, in an hour or ;O,
such things as Marxism and
Communism, why the Russian
and Chinese types 4tre differ-
ent, where Fidel Castro fits in,
why, where and when the nas
tion of Israel was created, and
why the Jews, notably non.hei,
ligerent for about 15 centu,
ries, have a chip the size of a
brick on their shoulders these
days.
" From there we wandered 10
Mahatma 'Ohandi, the Congo,
nationalism in Africa, mars
-
Mtn in Canada, the Black Few.
er movement in the States,
growing entitsemition =Peg
Megrims, and her biology test'
on the dissection of rats, which
takes place' tomorrow morning.
Golly, it would be nice to
have once again a little girl,
who tared such shnple ques-
tions as, "Dad, does Gad have
to go to the bathroom?"
It all began with a discus-
' sion of the student militantat
universities. She is appalled at
the violence of the hard core
of "pacifists" who, lurking in
the forefriint of all the young
idealists and the middle,aged
"liberals", deliberately resort
to violence in their efforts to
catch headlines, be martyrs,
and destroy an idea which has
taken almost 1,000years to
build — The University.
Thankfully, we agreed- that
violence begets violence, and .
that neither of us wants any
part of the whole stupid busi-
ness.
Admittedly, the universities
are sitting ducks: .Over the
years, they have grown as
sleepy and fat and insolent as
an old tom -cat who has been
"fixed".
They have almost taken
pride in their administrative
Inefficiency, their moribund
traditions, their cosiness with
The Establishment. Write a
letter- to a university. Three
weeks later you will receive a
McPherson. •
Named winners in the best
couple skaters' competition
were Mr. and Mrs. Barry Mac-
Pherson, Julie Roane and Alan
Dickson, and Laura Inglis and
Hugh.Leeson. Mc erson
g
`21 '41
ers4
boys' slalom race were Richard
Inglis, Rick McPherson and
Paul Kieffer.
• Ivan Haskins was master of
ceremonies for the evening.
reply, either a iforot letter or
inntathing COMPintalY alien to
What you asked -
And ' admittedly, students,
14/00441134 ;have always been
Among the vanguard of rebels
assiraft the system, pol_iticalor
social. That's because cficY are
idealistic, want action, and are
inclined to see things In Wachs.
and whites (or today, Mocks,
and
But the fact remains that the
universities, olier the yearsp
have become the only truly
free centres (albeit timid) of
sound criticism of society and
its ills, in addition, to their
normal function . or teaching
people to think and/Or learn a
'professional skill.
-
And another fact remains.
The universities, on the Whole,
under pressure from within
and without, have made a tre-
mendous effortto rouse them-
selves from their .stately torpor
and scramble into the twen-,
tieth century. Even though it's
two-thirds over.
In the process, they have
leaned over backwards to free
themselves of the rigid, puri
tan traditions of even 20 years -
ago. When I was there, living
in men's residence, we were
allowed to bring -girls into the
place once a year, on a Sunday
afternoon, for a heavily chape-
roned cocoa and cookie party
in the common. room. Now,
wow!
I'm not advocating a return .
to those days, when university
men and women were treated
like bright juveniles -who were
basically sex -fiends and alco-
holics.
But I am dismayed to see
these once -great institutions
cowering and cringing under
the attacks of malcontented,
Marxist wolf -cubs who repre-
sent a fraction of student opin-
ion.
As Mordecai Richler pointed
out recently, the real yuk of
the whole affair is that while
the student activists endorse
anything, up to the burning of
buildings, they are scared stiff
lest they get a police record,
which would be a, serious detri-
ntent when they try to get a
job in the system they are
trying to destroy.
The solution? Kick out the
hard-nosed boys and girls, for
whom democracy is a sham /
anyway. Sock it to them with
the law when they ,diaturb the
ace,,ior dajism.
4 43aMto4u ness
Of edcatlig, br tahingto
think, the vast majority who
want those things.
. So now I'm a fascist, and a
tool of the iMperialistic,,press.
I knew it at heart.
St. Paul's Chum
(ANGLICAN)
,WINGHAM
REV. H. W. HAMILTON, Dip. Th., Rector.
Organist: MRS, GORDON DAVIDSON.
THE SECOND SUNDAY/IN LENT MARCH ,2nd
11:00 a.m. - Holy Communion, Sermon and
Church School
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wednesday, March 5, at 10:00 a.m.—Midweek Lenten
service in the Parish Hall. All *welcome.
ANNOUNCING!
ADVENTURE WEEK FOR
CHILDREN
DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THIS?
IT'S BACK AGAINI
Puppets
Story7time
Tricks
Prizes
Songs
A WEEK FULL OF FUN, DISCOVERY AND
SPECIAL BLE$S1NG
• With The
REVEREND MAURICE EASTWICK
OF SCRIPTURE UNION — AT
etc.
Si.Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Fellowship Hall
Monday, Mar. 3/. friday, Mat. 7 - 4.15 p.m.
ALL WELCOMel